Catharsis of the Bogue

Oddities, Profundities, Profanities and Dad Stuff

Tag: writing (Page 8 of 12)

My review of How To Build An e-Book!

March 24, 2014 / / 0 Comments

Hello folks!  Today I am going to review a fabulous book that I had the opportunity to pre-read for clarity. (ie I got a free copy to read through and evaluate.  assume all links are affiliate links.).  That book is called  How To Build An E-Book.  It was written by Aaron Pogue over at Unstressed Syllables.com.

This book was launched a couple of weeks ago and I didn’t put up this post then because I thought there would be so much promotion that mine would get lost in the stream.  So I am here today to review this fine book and bring some new life to it.  Aaron’s sales page is here:Click here to visit Aaron Pogue.

Hello Aaron.  Ok here is a list of things that I noticed while reading your book.  They are in no particular order so take them as you will.

First, this book is very well written.  It is easy to read and in a very conversational style that flows very quickly.  It really goes in depth on how to convert blog posts to a useful ebook.  Aaron is a technical writer (as well as novelist) by trade and his attention to detail is fantastic.  The book is easy to understand and it really lays out the right way to put your ebook together.

I mainly write fiction but the information Aaron presents can be modified to even make a fiction ebook look good.  I actually used some of the techniques to tweak my first fiction ebook: Death With A Vengeance.  It is also instrumental in the planning of my non-fiction ebook about my daughters kidney disease and dialysis.  The chapter on Outlining brought back horrible memories of both high school and college English classes but gave me a great reminder on how to do it.  I haven’t needed to outline anything in years but for this book I am writing it was essential.

Aaron also gets into some simple points of Microsoft Word (or other word processors) and talk about styles for chapter headings and how to bookmark and link in between pages in the ebook.  There were several points that I didn’t know about and now use quite often.  I have been using Word since the old Wordperfect went belly up and there were several things that I still didn’t know.

This ebook has a really good flow to it.  The headers and footers are very clear so you always know where you are.  It is littered with practical examples of how to put the concepts into practice, from pictures to links, to info boxes that show what is exclusive content to your ebook and what has been published on your blog.

He even includes a checklist that you can use to follow the concepts exactly as they appear in the book.  Most of these things I had thought about but I didn’t know how to put them together in a coherent and cohesive manner.  This checklist solved that problem.

At the end, he also discusses how to publish your ebook and get it out to the masses.  From formats to publish in to using distributors like e-junkie it is all here. Click here to visit Aaron’s Sales Page!

All in all, this is a great book for learning to make an ebook.  You can tell that Aaron really loves his work and is good at it.  He has easy descriptions of the hard stuff like outlining (I hate outlining but it must be done!) and publishing.

If you want to publish your own e-book from your blog posts, go get this book.  It is well worth the $49.97 that he is charging.  He also has the book split into three modules that run $19.99 each if you would rather go that way.

Bottom line: Want to write a successful ebook from your vast collection of blog posts?  Get Aaron’s ebook today and get started!

Writing for Writings Sake

November 11, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Just have to keep it up I say to myself.  Just do it.  How do you ever expect to make anything as a writer if you don’t write?  That is where I am today.  I did get some great Christmas shopping done and a few other things that I needed to do, but it took me quite  the long time to get around to writing.

See I have this problem, I like to procratinate and talk alot.  I am full of …..well knowledge among other things.  I have spent way too much time reading or “researching” how to do things instead of just doing them.

I started kettlebell training last February.  I read a bit then got some small kettlebells.  Then I read.  and Read.  And Read.  Trained a little, and read a lot.  If knowledge of the kettlebell were worth anything tangible, I would be rich.  As it is I am somewhat stronger and do like to use them, but I spend way too much time reading about them and complaining about Jillian Michaels doing it wrong.  Bah.

I am getting the same way about my writing.  I am finally getting off of my duff to write a book that I hope can be published within a year.  I have read tons  of blogs on writing and blogs just to read.  I have written very little.  I have ideas, I have well researched dates to be somewhat historically accurate.  I have barely 1000 words written.

I started this blog to write.  To force myself to write something without consequences.  To write something where the only deadline is midnight.  To force myself to craft, to craft sentences that are coherent and a cohesive message each day.  I can do it.  I have always been able to write fairly well, at least that is smoke that has been blown at me since elementary school.

Hopefully I will accomplish a decent blog.  I am going to work on it.  I will at least write for me whether or not anyone else reads it.  I owe ME that much.  Maybe I will find something of myself in all of these pixels and HTML codes.

Write on,

Justin

If Only My Blog Was A Fish.

September 26, 2013 / / 6 Comments

I don’t know if I can even express just how much I want to get outside.  I have spring fever so bad it is not even funny.  I know there are some around the country that are just happy to have it stop snowing.  There hasn’t been snow in Salt Lake for over a month now, and the temps are near 50.

Perfect for fishing!  I have got to get out and catch something.  I wrote a couple of weeks ago about wanting to go fishing and how you can just have too much tackle to be effective.  I still believe that I don’t need much stuff to go, just the time to do it.  And my new pole.  I received a new rod and reel in the mail the other day.  The result of some contest I entered.  While not the most expensive rod you can get, it is pretty darn sweet.  I can’t wait to go try it out.  I am really leaning towards this week and one of the community ponds that we have here.

I had that rod in my living room for a few days telling my wife that I just needed to get some line on it and I would put it away.  I got a roll of brand new 8 lb test flourocarbon line, something I have never used before.  I spooled it onto my reel.  I resisted the temptation to tie on a lure and see if the fish in my aquarium would bite.  One time I taped a fly on the outside of the aquarium just to watch the fish go crazy.  It was great fun.

So now, my new rod lies dormant in the dark of my camping trailer.  I can hear it calling to me.  It is like Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart.  I can hear it.  I can feel it.  I am pathetic.  I need to go fishing.

What does this obsession have to do with blogging?  This is the passion that is needed to power your blog from “just another blog” to something with a known name that people want to read.  I keep referencing Ben at 6aliens.com and James at TheInfopreneur.net as well as Dave at website-in-a-weekend.net.  No I am not getting paid to pimp their sites, they are just my inspiration in this whole blog adventure that I am undertaking.  They are all great examples of tenacity and the passion that it takes to keep a site going and be successful.  Now, I am defining successful here as many pageviews and comments.

James is a madman and posts up to 3 times per day!  Ben is all over the net and besides content on his site he has regular guest posts on other sites.  Dave is a savant when it comes to WordPress and has valiantly recovered from a hackers attack in the last couple of weeks.  They are all still reading, posting and commenting all over the web.

That is what is worthy to emulate.  Drive, passion.  Making things happen.  Paring down the crap out there and focusing on what counts for your blog, and your writing.  It is about being like a kid before Christmas when a new plugin arrives that you just can’t wait to use.

It is about using new tools that you haven’t heard of before.  It is about continuously refining techniques and your site until it works.  Until people want to read what you write.  Can you do it??  I am.  I want to toss out a line to Blogistan and reel back in readers.

I can’t wait to write more and read everything in my RSS reader.  If you are reading this you rock!  Check out my Pre-Writing Challenge page to track progress on that.

Please feel free to comment if the mood strikes and that fly that I taped to your monitor is tempting!

Justin

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